1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to systems and methods for mapping media content to web sites. Specifically, this invention is directed to mapping screen locations of viewable and non-viewable media content and objects in viewable media content by means of media time segments and screen locations to web sites.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, the delivery of media programs to homes has become increasingly complex and sophisticated. Media programs were once simple viewable programs, such as television shows and movies, and non-viewable programs, such as radio shows, transmitted to antennas over airwaves at certain radio frequencies. As time went on, cable television was introduced, which allowed media content to be transmitted over cables, such as fiber-optic cables, broadening the amount of media content that could be delivered to homes all over the world. The development of satellite transmission of media content also allowed widespread distribution of media content both unencoded and encoded from satellites to various types of satellite dishes. Set top boxes receiving media content now allow for real time play and storage for future play, and transmission of media content has now evolved to transmission over the Internet. In addition to traditional television and set top boxes, home computer users can watch television or listen to radio programs on their computers. The combination of all these distribution capabilities, improved technology and availability of media content such as television and radio presents opportunities for incorporating new advertising methods into media distribution.
Some new methods of advertising in media have been conceived. These include product placements, when an advertiser pays for its product to be displayed in viewable media content or mentioned in audio media content, and graphical overlays, such as pop-ups, crawls, and scrolls, which lay over the viewable media content. Currently, there is some availability of methods to determine the location of an object or graphical overlay. However, there is a need to integrate these methods into superior advertising techniques.